While aware of the difficulty of reversing migration trends, Lazos participants were determined to find ways to reinvigorate Jewish life. Participants proposed ventures such as the establishment of a new synagogue in the Argentine city of Corrientes and a network for Jewish travelers journeying to Brazil during the World Cup. Technology was offered up as a means of changing the status quo.
“Everyone is asking where young adults have disappeared to,” said Victor Rottenstein, the head of search engine optimization operations at Mercado Libre, the Latin American version of eBay. “I’ll tell you where they are. They’re on Facebook.”
Participants discussed how to capitalize on the potential contributions of community members who had left and to improve the way resources are shared among communities.
“Communities are widely distributed across a broad area,” said Diego Goldman, a psychologist from Buenos Aires who co-chaired the Lazos event with Lijavetzky. “There is a big necessity for Latin America to work as a network.”
The effort to strengthen small communities is complicated in some countries, however, by economic uncertainty. In Argentina, an inflation rate of approximately 30 percent and the prospect of further currency devaluations make it more difficult for institutions to stay afloat, with synagogues in a number of smaller cities selling off their properties and merging.
Even communities with storied histories are struggling.
Moises Ville, a town in the Argentine province of Sante Fe, famed for its Jewish gauchos, or cowboys, once was a shining symbol of Jewish community life on the plains of Argentina. With the financial patronage of the German-Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch, Jews fleeing czarist Russia and Central Europe had taken advantage of Argentina’s open-door immigration policy and established the colony in 1889.
The city is still called the Argentine Jerusalem for its history and culture, and it is currently celebrating its 125th anniversary. Today, however, only about 250 of its 2,000 inhabitants are Jews.
“One of our main concerns is the lack of young people,” lamented Claudia Baer, secretary of the community synagogue, before adding that she, too, would like to go to Israel, if it weren’t for her job.
Basta con recordar: Eftaj al-shefayiim neharot ubetoj beka’ot ma’yanot asim midbar la’agam- maim ve’eretz tzivyá lemotza’e maim